Now that we have had some time to digest Georg Cantor’s paradox of the infinite we can move on to the second installment of the Dangerous Knowledge series.  This time we will be focusing on physicist Ludwig Boltzmann who dedicated his life to statistical theory, and was a driving force for atomic theory when everyone seemed to be against him.  If you still have not seen the Dangerous Knowledge video or need a refresher on Boltzmann, I have once again embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure (Boltzmann starts a couple seconds before the 29 minute mark).  

The video briefly mentions Darwin in relation to Boltzmann, and I think you really have to keep Darwin in mind when talking about Boltzmann.  First because Boltzmann regarded Darwin’s theory on evolution as an ideal that he hoped extended outside of the biology realm.  The other reason for this is because they mirror each other in terms of breaking new and controversial ground within their respective fields.  Boltzmann didn’t redefine physics, after all we still use Newton’s equations, but he changed the way people viewed the certainty of accepted physics.  Unfortunately Boltzmann’s justification in atomic theory came after his suicide.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Boltzmann’s legacy is the focus of physics today.  Everyone seems to be looking for a universal or unifying type of theory, and equation that defines all of the forces in the universe.  It is not good enough to understand the probability of how these forces act, physicists will always been searching for an answer to yield concise define answers.

Knowing how physics has progressed since Boltzmann’s death, it is interesting to think about what his life had been like had he lived to see his work accepted.  Even though the work was accepted in the physics world, no one was every satisfied with the uncertainties that it exposed.  Imagine making a brilliant breakthrough and literally creating a new type of science, to a response of everyone thinking it’s a good start but it simply is not good enough.  For over one hundred years now the physics world has been trying to find that equation that finally finish off Boltzmann’s ideas, and put to rest any notion of probability in physics.  

Check back after the Thanksgiving weekend to explore what happened when Kurt Gödel tackled the limits of human logic.